In a true democracy where the Parliament truly (that is, in a “statistically correct” manner) represents the people, shouldn’t the elections be carried out by random lottery?

Isn’t that the way mathematicians draw a correct sample from any statistical “population”? Isn’t that the way juries are selected in American courts (although I am aware of the mind-bending machinations that lurk below the orderly surface of the jury-selection process).

As a matter of fact, once upon a time, about 2,500 years ago, that’s how elections were carried out in ancient Greece. Everybody could not vote, that’s one technical detail we have to disclose obviously. But those who were eligible to vote were represented correctly through “random elections” called “sortition.”

In ancient Greece the “boule” or the governing council had 500 members chosen by lottery from the ten “tribes” of Athens to serve one-year terms, according to Ernest Callenbach & Michael Phillips of the Context Institute. A lot of members for a tiny city state, I’d think. But they served for only one year, so that’s okay in my book.

“It had judicial functions in addition to being, as representative of the periodic assembly of all citizens, generally responsible for the fiscal well-being of Athens,” Callenbach and Phillips continue.

“The boule system prevailed for about as long as the American republic has, and lost its power only through the growth of a class of specialized officials serving long terms: in modern parlance, a bureaucracy.” [There I disagree since I believe with Max Weber that a bureaucracy is actually a manifestation of increasing rationalization of routine processes in a complex market economy, although the form itself has been abused and transmortified (I'm afraid I've just made up that word) beyond recognition.]

“Just as the Athenian boule existed in conjunction with the citizen assembly, we may imagine a new direct- representation house of Congress existing in conjunction with a Senate chosen by traditional electoral means. The new body we propose to call the Representative House.”

Will it happen anytime soon in any country around the world? Of course not. But is it worth thinking about? I certainly think so.

Ugur Akinci is a writer with 20 years of experience. Visit his web site http://www.writer111.com for more information.

 Mail this post

Technorati Tags:

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!